Nathan Bransford - The Forums

Check your library. Mine has copies of the current year (usually in the reference section, and not for checkout.) I used a lot of online resources like agentquery for most of my contacts, though. Publisher's Marketplace online was where I found the most (http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/). Sites...

A read-through on a full can take 2-4 months or more, at which point the other agency might not even remember you. I'd be interested to hear what Nathan had to say about this, considering that. Would the second agent be willing to wait, and if so actually remember you by the time the feedback from t...

Thanks, everyone! Some good food for thought, and a bit of a relief, too. I do spend a lot of time w/ the world-building and was worried what actually happens was getting lost. Guess one of the reasons was yes, there are vampires (though not vegan sparkly ones) and wanted to point out that no, that ...

I've got a "finished" (like they ever are) YA urban fantasy w/ some romance elements if you're interested. I started with the query stage but have some general questions about how everything flows and if enough actually happens. Mainly I'd be looking for that - is there enough tension in t...

I read the first few House of Night books. I enjoyed the first couple, but then she started switching POV by chapter in the later ones and I wasn't as big of a fan of that. Nothing against Stevie Rae and the other characters, but I wanted to stay in Zoe's head. That was personal preference. They def...

NEW AND (HOPEFULLY) IMPROVED VERSION! Since this is another re-write, I'm going to put it in this post as well as at the end of the responses to make it easier to find. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! All of my responses from previous queries have come back in now, so I'm chomping at the...

Glad it was helpful! I didn't pick up that a day or so had passed with the "What time was it...what day?", but it would explain why he was suddenly sober as well. Maybe be a little less subtle about how much time has gone by? Then again, it might just have been me missing it. :-) I actuall...

Hmm... My novel shows 85100 words using MS Word's count, and using the formula makes it 83,250, using Times New Roman, 12pt. When I switch it to Courier New 12 pt and the formula, it calculates at around 108k words on 435 pages (that's 100 pages more than with Times New Roman btw), but Word still sa...

What font and font size are you using? That's a huge difference. The formula of 250 words per double spaced page assumes a certain font/font class that takes up a certain space per character, etc. For MS Word, if you're using what most agencies request for font and size, the results are very close t...

To start with, I'm definitely intrigued by the story and am interested in how it's all going to unfold. I like urban fantasy as well as a good psychological thriller, and this sets up some major stressors right away to get us into everything. As for my comments: I didn't focus on punctuation or gra...

Douglas Adams was the master at cracking people up. One book that reminded me of his humor, and I chuckle every time I read, is "Good Omens" by Terry Prachet and Neil Gaiman. That's probably one of the best I've read in a long time. What can I say - I love the absurd.

Completely agree with Jim Butcher's Dresden series! Since that's the fantasy type I prefer, rather than the more traditional sword and sorcery, I also like Simon R. Greene's Nightside series, and Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan series. Also Robert Aspirin for both his Myth and Phule series, and pretty ...

Like everyone else on the planet (okay, not really, but some days it feels like it), YA urban fantasy/gritty paranormal. What can I say? I grew up reading the stuff, plus sci-fi and horror, and still love adult urban fantasy. If it's by Jim Butcher, Simon R. Green, Kim Harrison, Douglas Adams, Neil ...

Lurker here, finally sucking it up and coming out of the shadows. I've been reading Nathan's blog for a while--it's kept me sane during the dreaded query process for my first novel. Perspective is a great thing, especially when it's along the lines of "Don't Panic." Can I just say that all...

Title: Toxic Genre: Young Adult Urban Fantasy 229 words New York City My sneakers skidded on the sidewalk, the concrete slick from rain. I kept it together, running full out like there were demons behind me. It wasn't all that far from the truth. Sure, my chasers were vampires and not actual demons,...